Closure for sanitary cans



A. JOHNSON,

CLOSURE FOR SANlTARY CANS. APPLICATION FILED FEB.25, 1916.

1 ,SQS, 567 9 Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

IN V EN TOR. $1M

J/fl 7 L W ATTORNEY.

WITNESS.

fication.

1 more specifically,

" similar products,

srA'rs OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CLOSURE FOR SANITARY CANS.

masher.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 25, 1916. Serial No. 80,487.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, AXEL JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oakland,-in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Closures for Sanitary Cans, of which the following is a speci- The present invention, relates to a means for sealing cans of the type known to the trade as sanitary or double-seamed, and is, an improvement in the can-end closure for which Letters Patent No. 1,100,005, was granted to JohnM. Young on June 16, 1914. 1 j

The object of the invention is to permit the use of loose ring liners as packing between. the adjacent seamed flanges of the can and its end, without involving the disadvantages heretofore regarded as inseparable therefrom.

' In the canning of food products, it is of the utmost importance that air-tight seals be made between the can body and its ends, for if the slightest leak occurs, fermentation or decomposition of the contents will ensue, and will, render said contents unfit for consumption as food. In the case of fruits, and the fermentation of the sugar contained therein, caused by a leaky seam, is readily noticeable, and the user is thereby Warned that the product is unsafe. Canned material in this condition, therefore, is not likely to be used, but nevertheless casts great discredit upon the canner, and results in financial loss In the case of nitrogenous food products, however, and particularly meat and fish, the results of a leaky seam are more dangerous, for the early decomposition products caused by such a leaky seam are not so apparent, and the user, acting under the false impression that the material is in f product such as fruit, which has a clear juice sound condition, will be seriously poisoned thereby.

The function of the packing between the flanges of'theseam is to insure an air-tight seal. For this purpose the older forms of gum packing, applied to the flange of the can end, are imperfect and unreliable, because such gum dries out and cracks in many cases before the end is appliedto the can, and the necessary'handling which said end slightly into receivesis-very apt to causesaid gum to peel or to be rubbed off. The sameobjections.

"apply, to a less extent, to a fibrous ring liner gummed or glued to the flange of the can end, that is, being immovably fixed to said flange, it is easily torn by the unavoidable handling of the end, and its usefulness thereby destroyed.

The above disadvantages are entirely avoided by the use of a ring linerloosely applied to the flange of the can end, and held in position as by crimping or in-turning one edge of said flange. In this case the liner, being free to move within the flange, is not so readily mutilated; However, in the use of ring liners of the ordinary type, of suificient atented An .3,192 0.

width to completely fill the flange of the can end, the inner edge, of said liner projects the interior of the can when the lined end is applied thereto, andis further squeezed thereinto by the seaming operation. A portion of the liner therefore. comes into contact with the liquid contents of the can, and, particularly if said contents include an acidic liquid, said interiorly pro-= jecting portion of the liner is attacked and disintegrated thereby, and, in the course of time, said liquid is forced by capillary ac- "tion completely through saidliner, and attacks and disintegrates the same throughout its entire width, thus destroying the liner and causing portions thereof to separate therefrom and mix'with the contents ofthe can. Once the liner is destroyed, the seam will, of course, leak, and thus a seam which is perfect when made, will become leaky and defective after a lapse of time. The disintegration of the ring liner also permits portions thereof to mingle with the contents of the can, and the presence of such foreign material within the can is highly obj ectionable, especially if the can contains a food or syrup, and the quality of the product is thereby lowered. This obviously reflects 'prehend the invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings, where- 1n Figure 1 is an elevation of a sealedcan, part broken away, to show the seam in cross section.

' Fig. 2 is "a cross section of the end withbefore the final seaming operation.

F 7 is an enlarged sectional detail of the seam of Fig. 6, showing a portion of the full-width liner squeezed into the interior of the can. i

In the drawings, the numeral 1 designates any suitable form of metallic canbody, and 2 the end covers or can ends united thereto by the usual double-seam joint. The can ends are formed with a peripheral flange 3, which is bounded by a shoulder 4 and a downwardly turned edge 5 of the can end to form an annular groove 3. v

A ring liner 6, preferably formed of paper, lies within the said channel or groove ,3 and is loosely retained therein by any suitable means, as, for example, the curling or in-turning of the edge 5.

The interior diameter of the liner 6 1s greater than the interior diameter of the ani the drawings. above mentloned clearance space 7 between nular groove 3 formed on the bounded flange 3 of the can end 2 and within which groove it lies, asshown in Figs. 2. and 3 of the drawings, so that said liner does not fill said groove for its entire width. An annular clearance space T is thus left between the liner 6 and the shoulder 4 of the cam end 2, in which space there is no packing material whatsoever. i

In applying the can end 2 to the can body 1, the flanged outwardly projected portion of the open end of said body is forced against the ring liner 6, and the flange 3 of the can end then united to the end of the can body 1, by the usual double seamingv process, which rolls or folds the lined flange 3 of the can end to the end of the flanged can body 1, as shown particularly in Fig. 4; of It will be noted that the the inner edge of the liner 6 and the shoulder 4 permits the metal of the flanged end of the body and of the shoulder 4: of the flange 3 of the can end to be brought and held tightlytogether atthe point 8, without the interposition of any packing ma .terial .therebetween. The liner 6 when the forced into the interior of end is seamed to the can body occupies a position exterior to said point 8, and does not project into the interior of the can, nor can it be squeezed thereinto by the seaming operation.

This arrangement of the ring liner firesults in the formation of a double seal, viz-the usual air-tight seal which is formed by the said liner 6, and an inner seal which is' formed at 8, sufficiently tight to prevent any liquid from the interior of the can reaching and attacking said ring liner. Hence no disintegration of the liner can ocour, and the contents of the can are kept free of any foreign matter caused by such disintegration, and, what is of still greater importance in the canning art, the hermetic seal will remain perfect for an indefinite time. i Y a The width of the annular clearance space 7 is of great importance, and is preferably five one-thousandths ofan inch. This provides a liner of suflicient width to lie be tween the body and end at the point 9, Fig.4; 0f the drawings. here a liner is employed of a width suflicient to completely fill the groove of the flange, as illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawings, the inner; edge of. said liner will be forced between the shoulder' ofthe end and the body of the can during the seaming operation, as shown at 10 in Fig. 6 of the drawings, and, when the seam is completed, will be squeezed into the interior of the can, as at 11 in Fig. 7 of the i drawings, with the objectionable results above set forth.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is i a 1. A can end for the closure of sanitary cans,having an outwardly projectingflange formed with a curled edge, for the seaming of the can end to the flanged end of a can body, and formed with a shoulder for entering the can body and engaging the interior walls thereof,'and a ring liner loose on the under side of said outwardly projecting flange of the can end having its inner edge separated by a clearance space from the said shoulder of the can end, said loose liner being movably held under the said curled edge of the can end, whereby portions of the liner are prevented. from being squeezed between thecan end and the interior vertical wall of the can body or the can.

2. A can end for the closure of sanitary cans, having a shoulder to fitwithin the mouth of the can body, a flange extending outwardly from said shoulder, adapted to be double seamed with a'can body flange, and having a curl at its edge concentric with said shoulder, and a paper ring liner on the can end flange and adapted to form a he!- metic seal between the flanges of the can 1,348,567 a a I body and end, said liner being spaced away name to this specification in the presence of flronll saidf shouider to prevelcit portifins of two subscribing Witnesses. tie iner rom eing squeeze into t e can a r in the seaming operation, and the space be- ALEL JOHNSON 5 ing maintained by the engagement of said Witnesses:

curl with the outer periphery of said liner. N. A. AGKER,

In testimony whereof I have signed my D. B. RICHARDS. 

